More than half of North Carolina's grade 3 students struggle with reading. The percentage of students scoring below proficient in reading at the end of grade 3 was 55 percent in 2017/18. That percentage has remained largely unchanged, at above 50 percent, since 2013/14, when North Carolina passed its K-3 Read to Achieve literacy act. Read to…

This report summarizes results from the Georgia's Pre-K Longitudinal Study Third-Grade Report. The study followed a representative sample of children (n=1,169) from their pre-k experience (2013-2014) through the third grade (2017-2018). Study components include: (1) Standardized child assessments that measure skills across learning domains. By…

More than half of North Carolina's grade 3 students struggle with reading. The percentage of students scoring below proficient in reading at the end of grade 3 was 55 percent in 2017/18. That percentage has remained largely unchanged, at above 50 percent, since 2013/14, when North Carolina passed its K-3 Read to Achieve literacy act. Read to…

A valid screening system requires a screener that accurately predicts whether or not students are at risk given their current performance. To understand a screening measure's accuracy, predicted student performance data (i.e., screening data) must be compared with actual performance data. When these sets of data are compared in a setting where…

By thinking about the concept of density and taking into account the research on children's ideas about this concept, the authors were able to unpack the typical sink or float activity and realize that it has students unscientifically making comparisons between objects by changing two independent variables (mass and volume) at one time. With this…

This article describes the reading instructional program that first-graders in an urban school located in a large, Midwestern city received as a result of a grant initiative. Various assessments of the children's reading revealed some important areas for reading success were missing. As a result, suggestions were shared with the school staff to…

A fundamental assumption in the identification of specific learning disabilities (SLD) has been that the presence of a severe discrepancy between ability and academic achievement is a valid marker for the presence of a SLD. This assumption is based on the notion that discrepant low achievers constitute a unique group of children who are different…

This study used hierarchical linear modeling to predict first grade students' peer acceptance, classroom engagement, and sense of school belonging from measures of normative classroom teacher-student support and individual teacher-student support. Participants were 509 (54.4% male) ethnically diverse, first grade children attending one of three…

Participants were 360 (52.2% male) ethnically diverse and academically at-risk first-grade children attending one of three school districts in southeast and central Texas. Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model positing that the quality of the teacher-student relationship in first grade predicts…

There is considerable focus in public policy on screening children for reading difficulties. Sixty years of research have not resolved questions of what constructs assessed in kindergarten best predict subsequent reading outcomes. This study assessed the relative importance of multiple measures obtained in a kindergarten sample for the prediction…

This final report describes major activities and outcomes of a one-year project in Birmingham, Alabama, which attempted to utilize quantitative record linkage methodology and a qualitative family interview to increase the available information regarding risk factors associated with special education placement for young children. The project…

Presents the results of a study that tracked the educational progress of a group of first graders from 1982 to 1996. Examines the children's personal qualities, first-grade experiences, and family circumstances as precursors to dropping out in high school. Identifies dropping out as a long-term process of disengagement. (MJP)

This descriptive study investigates the variability in the curriculum pacing decisions of classroom teachers. The effects on the reading achievement and performance gains of first and second grade students in a compensatory education program program are examined. Data were collected from: (1) the Metropolitan Readiness Test results used to select…